Financial Education Video Game to Help Utah Students Score Financial Touchdowns

September 25, 2014

Salt Lake City, UT – September 25, 2014 – Denver Broncos cornerback Kayvon Webster joined Utah Treasurer Richard Ellis, Utah Jump$tart Coalition and Visa Inc. in The Beehive State today to tackle head on the issue of financial literacy improvement among Utah teens. They announced a statewide effort to improve the money management skills of high school and middle school students with the rollout of Financial Football, a free educational video game and classroom curriculum developed by the NFL and Visa Inc. The game is being distributed by the Treasurer's office to every public middle school and high school in Utah.

Treasurer Ellis kicked off this financial literacy campaign at Skyline High School in Salt Lake City today with help from Webster, Utah Jump$tart Coalition and Visa. Webster and Treasurer Ellis rolled up their sleeves and led teams of students in a hard-fought, high energy game of Financial Football. Earlier Webster shared his personal experiences on the importance of money management with students.

"Financial Football is a great way to get students interested in personal finances and gives them a financial playbook they can use the rest of their lives," said Utah Treasurer, Richard Ellis said. "This is a valuable program and an exciting partnership between my office, Jump$tart and Visa."

"Managing one's money is a lot more complex than just balancing a checkbook. It is important to teach students about the significance of their personal finances," Steve Anderson, Utah Jump$tart Coalition Board President said. "I thank Visa for creating this program – another tool for students to use."

The centerpiece of a nationwide educational initiative with Visa, the NFL and the NFL Players Association, Financial Football helps students and adults tackle their financial futures. The game is accompanied by a classroom curriculum.

"Kids need to learn to make smart money management decisions early in life," said Denver Broncos cornerback Kayvon Webster. "It takes the combined efforts of parents, teachers and mentors within the community to give teenagers a strong background in personal finance."

Available online at www.utah.financialfootball.com, Financial Football puts students' fiscal knowledge to the test in an online simulation game environment by combining the structure and rules of the NFL with financial education questions of varying difficulty. Visa has also released the game as a free iPhone app on iTunes, along with an optimized HD iPad version.

"For over a decade, Visa has been committed to promoting financial literacy and we are proud to assist Treasurer Ellis in his continuing efforts to strengthen financial education," said Nat Sillin, Head of U.S. financial education, Visa Inc.

This launch is part of a national educational campaign with Visa, the NFL and the NFL Players Association, now in its seventh season. Since 2006, Visa has reached agreements with forty-five states and the District of Columbia to distribute Financial Football to every high school and middle school in those states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Financial Football is part of Practical Money Skills for Life (www.practicalmoneyskills.com) a free, award-winning financial education program that reaches millions of people around the world each year. Launched in 1995, the program is now available in ten languages in thirty countries. At Practical Money Skills for Life, educators, parents and students can access free educational resources including personal finance articles, games, lesson plans and more. Visa also runs What's My Score (www.whatsmyscore.org), a leading higher education consumer awareness program.

About Visa
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks – VisaNet – that is capable of handling more than 56,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa , visacorporate.tumblr.com and @VisaNews.